Email a copy of 'Graves in the Park: Notes from the ‘Bolis’ Uprising' to a friend
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Eric Nazarian
Eric Nazarian is a screenwriter, filmmaker and photojournalist. In 2007, Nazarian wrote and directed “The Blue Hour,” a first feature film that won six international awards. In 2008, Nazarian received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® (home of the Oscars) prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for his original screenplay, “Giants.” In turn, Nazarian’s film “Bolis” was the recipient of the Best Short Film Award at the 14th Arpa International Film Festival in 2011.
Latest posts by Eric Nazarian (see all)
- A Book for All who Resist - January 27, 2021
- We are alone - October 20, 2020
- The Dreamt Land: A Conversation with Mark Arax - June 5, 2019
Thank you for one of the most electrifyingly eloquent pieces I have ever read.
Gezi Park sends a very sad and highly a symbolic message about Turkey overall – that it is the gravesite of not just many thousands of Armenians over hundreds of years, but of Armenia itself. When that cemetery, gifted to us by the sultan, was taken and destroyed by republican Turkey, I believe that was the exact message these new post-Ottoman leaders were sending. Happily, Armenians are still present in Turkey, albeit in much smaller numbers, to remind Turks of their past.
Thanks for the article. I had some trepidation with answering the calls for action on Gezi Park from Amnesty International: the last time Armenians helped Turks fight oppression was when Krikor Zohrab hid Talaat Pasha.
The people in Turkey are brave enough to stand up for a better democratic future for their country, via protest. Why don’t you guys do the same in your motherland, to overthrow Serj Sarkisian and his corrupted oligarchs who is robbing Armenia bankrupt?
yeah, and was beheaded by him
Right! The people in Turkey were brave enough to slaughter unarmed and defenseless women, children, and the elders. The people in Turkey were brave enough to disarm men and kill them en masse. The people in Turkey were brave enough to gang rape young girls. The people in Turkey were brave enough to crush newborns’ heads against the walls. The people in Turkey were brave enough to rip off mothers’ wombs and destroy fetuses. What a “brave” nation the Turks are!
Rifat:
Last thing we need is advice to us Armenians from a denialist Turk such as yourself about RoA.
Pretty much every problem Armenian people have, can be traced to the cursed day when Seljuk Turks showed up uninvited at the Eastern edges of Asia Minor, Armenian Highlands.
Instead of giving us advice, sit down with your denialist buddies and figure out how to pay for all the damage you Turks have caused and are causing Armenia and Armenians.
.
As to Pres. Serj Sargsyan:
There was a protest on April 9th, 2013 against his election on inauguration day.
About 8,000 people showed up: an insignificant number.
The President was elected 58% vs 37%.
In recent Yerevan municipal elections Pres Sargsyan’s RPA Party got 56%.
Good or bad, people of Armenia freely elected to stay with RPA.
.
One last thing:
Go watch the videos of the April 9th, 2013 protest in Yerevan.
Compare how reserved Armenian cops behaved with the savagery dished out to peaceful Turkish protesters by your savage Turkish cops.
No doubt on orders of megalomaniac Erdogan.
Then go and give advice to your people on how to overthrow the fascist Islamist – if they can.
(no they can’t: Erdogan was popularly elected and has very strong backing from about 50%+ Islamist electorate of Turkey).
The demonstrations at the Gazi Park located in Taksim Square are very mild today compared to what will be a very major one two years from now on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. If Turkey does (people cheering) or does not (people jeering) acknowledge the Genocide at this time there will be a demonstration there. To convert it to shopping mall and a former Turkish army barracks would be a way to diminish the amount of people gathering in one spot to protest. There will be more thinking ahead of what Turkey must do to prevent extremely huge protests in the future concerning the Armenian Genocide. There will be demonstrations the world over in April 2019 and Turkey will stick it’s head in the sand and pretend it never happened and will try to contain any demonstrations in Turkey as much as possible. Eliminating the Gazi Park is one way to do this.
The sun does not rise and set over Armenia.
yes, RVDV, but this is an Armenian online forum, in case you didn’t notice…
rises and sets daily, beautifully too. It has been rising and setting over Armenians in the same place for 3,000 plus years, despite the best efforts of your extended family members to kill us and steal what we made.
There will never be a civilized Turkey that honors the rights of human beings. The ones in power and their associates are sick and inhumane. They are in a strategic part of the world and they use this to get some of the so called civilized countries to bow down to them. Why do you think the US still will not recognize the slaughter of over a million Armenians. How much proof do we need to say to the Turks YES YOU DID SLAUGHTER over a million Armenians and there will be consequences and reparations attached. This is only a dream we will never see this, in my or your lifetime.
I hope those rioters know about the hidden truth of Gazi Park!
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/722050/turkish-organization-to-restore-istanbul%E2%80%99s-memorial-devoted-to-armenian-genocide.html
Thank you Armenian Weekly and Eric Nazarian.
I am sure for many Armenians and a segment of non-Armenians the Gezi Park uprising has sparked an international interest to learn about its past connection to a part of our painful history and land. It is one of millions of stories that are forgotten or remain untold.
As Eric mentions, “Imagine if Armin Wegner had an iPhone 5 during the Armenian Genocide that could record video….” We now have the modern tools of information technology, which is fast, FREE and globally connected.
It is up to each of us to learn and share our old, new and untold stories through the Internet. We have public and family archives of audio, video, documents, books, publications, eyewitness and survivor interviews that can all be accessed at the touch of a fingertip.
Equally important in this critical time is for our current government to not stay silent or sweep the recent and past injustices under the rug.
Thank you Eric! I am so glad you were there to document what happened on the first day of the uprising. Keep up the great work! Welcome home!
Quite rightly, we are expecting the whole world’s recognition of Armenian Genocide, but in the mean time, ignoring the greater genocide caused by Robert Kocharian and Serge Ssrkisian by secretly giving back the Kars, Ararat and Arax river to Turkey and by signing the infamous Protocols where it declares that Armenia has no territorial claim from Turkey.
I am so anxious to know what forces have muzzled our political parties and denominations to talk about this most vital issues.
BE AN ACTIVE AND HONEST ARMENIAN BU FOLLOWING UP THE ABOVE VITAL ISSUES
Eric, did you go there in order to make another “Bolis”? Please,think about it.